Between America and Iran nobody wants war, Explore the fact

US president Donald Trump’s critics spent the decade’s end worrying a presidential tweet could trigger World War III. But as soon as 2020 put a foot in the door, it was a good old-fashioned targeted killing that put everyone on edge.

The US Department of Defense confirmed it killed major general Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force unit, on Friday. Soleimani is one of the most important figures in Iran, and has shaped events across the Middle East for decades, often at America’s expense.

For the US government, Soleimani was a terrorist and war criminal. For the Iranian regime, he was a hero, whose popularity stretched beyond regime supporters.

“If you asked me to find a figure from the regime whose popularity went beyond it, he would be it,” said Arash Azizi, a political commentator from Iran and PhD candidate of history and Middle Eastern studies at New York University.

Azizi—who himself considers Soleimani a war criminal and opposes Khamenei’s leadership—said that through conversations with his Iranian community, both in the United States and in Iran, he found that a large number of people were mourning the general. Still, he thinks his popularity is exaggerated by the regime’s sources: “He was not this national figure loved by everyone. No one in the regime is,” he said.

Whether they loved or hated Soleimani, however, Iranians likely share the same position when it comes to war with the United States: They fear it. “The threat of war is what really unites Iranians,” Azizi said. Having witnessed the impact of America’s intervention in Iraq, even those who oppose the regime know a war in Iran would have devastating consequences. “I can’t see the opposition supporting a military attack in Iran.”

In fact, Azizi said he believes that retaliation from Iran, to the extent that it escalates the conflict and threatens reprisals from the Americans on Iranian territory itself, is highly unlikely.

“Ali Khamenei is 80 years old, and a prudent leader,” he said. “He doesn’t make rushed decisions.” Attacking American interests would amount to suicide, he said. American military power is so disproportionate compared to Iran that Khamenei would essentially be inviting the destruction of his own country.

The possibility of an all out conflict is unlikely to excite Americans either, no matter their politics. US secretary of state Mike Pompeo has already released statements calling for de-escalation. And Trump himself campaigned in 2016 to withdraw troops from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere. According to recent polls, only about 18% of Americans would support the president if he went to war, making it a risky proposition in an election year.

Things seem hot right now. Khamenei has threatened “forceful revenge” and Trump is sending thousands more troops to the region. But, ultimately, a war is probably not in either leader’s interests.

The attack on Iran’s Soleimani is just the latest in a 245-year history of US military movements

The US drone strike that killed Qassem Soleimani, head of Iran’s special forces, on Jan. 3 means the 2020s will continue an unbroken string of decades dating to the 1770s in which the US has deployed its military overseas.

While the US has fought just five declared wars—against Britain, Mexico and Spain in the 19th century, and the two World Wars in the 20th—it has taken military action many dozens of times, from major undeclared conflicts (such as the wars in Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq) to minor skirmishes in countries as far flung as Haiti, Niger, and Fiji. Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, the US deployed forces to defend and protect US embassies, civilians, and business interests during local insurrections. During the Cold War, the military intervened on behalf of the US’s allies. In recent decades, it’s operated with a broad mandate to root out terrorism.

The above is an interactive map of all the countries in which the US military has operated, according to a report produced by the Congressional Research Service (pdf). Scroll over each country for a description of the operation (interventions for purely humanitarian purposes where there was no armed conflict, such as hurricane relief efforts, are left out). The map uses the current names and borders of nations, so, for example, attacks on British colonies in North America are coded as attacks on Canada. Also, for the sake of simplicity, some complex interventions, such as in the Balkans in the 1990s, are folded together.

Netanyahu “Israel should 'stay out' of effect from US killing of Soleimani, per report

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought to distance himself from the U.S.-led airstrike that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, telling Security Cabinet ministers on Monday that Israel should "stay out of it."

“The killing of Soleimani is a U.S. event, not an Israeli event, and we should stay out of it," Netanyahu said, according to reports by Axios that cited two ministers who attended the meeting.

The prime minister gave further instructions for Cabinet officials not to engage the press in commentary about the attack -- which has ramped up the tensions between the U.S. and the Middle East and escalated the likelihood of a retaliatory attack -- in order to ensure that Israel's longtime rivals do not get the impression that it was involved in Thursday's deadly drone strike.

US ANNOUNCES TRAVEL ALERT FOR ISRAEL, PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES

The director of Mossad, a branch of the Israeli Intelligence Community, told ministers they were not expecting any attacks from Iran because "Israel stayed in a distance from the incident," adding that the leaders should expect Iran efforts towards retaliation to become more apparent on Tuesday after the national three-day period of mourning for Soleimani is over.

A former chief of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards said Sunday the Israeli city of Haifa and Israeli military centers would be included in Tehran’s retaliation for Soleimani's death, according to Reuters.

“Iran’s revenge against America for the assassination of Soleimani will be severe. ... Haifa and Israeli military centers will be included in the retaliation,” Mohsen Rezaei said in a televised speech to mourners in Tehran.

Following the attack, where the U.S. launched three rockets at Baghdad International Airport, killing the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' elite Quds Force as well as Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy commander of Iran-backed militias known as the Popular Mobilization Forces, and five other people, Netanyahu issued a statement with brief congratulatory remarks to President Trump, a longstanding ally in the region.

"Qassem Soleimani brought about the death of many American citizens and many other innocents in recent decades and at present. Soleimani initiated, planned and carried out many terrorist attacks throughout the Middle East and beyond," Netanyahu said. “President Trump is deserving of all esteem for taking determined, strong and quick action. I would like to reiterate — Israel fully stands alongside the U.S. in the just struggle for security, peace and self-defense.”

Netanyahu reiterated to Cabinet ministers Monday that although Israel did not take part in the attack, they support the U.S.' right to defend itself.

Iranians flock to a hometown for burial

Huge numbers of black-clad mourners have turned out to pay their final respects to Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani ahead of his burial.

Iranians estimated in their millions have already turned out in recent days for his funeral procession.

His body has now arrived in his hometown of Kerman, where he is being buried on Tuesday morning.

Soleimani was assassinated in a US drone strike in Iraq on Friday, on the orders of President Donald Trump.

The killing brought fears that long-standing tensions between the US and Iran could spiral into conflict.

Soleimani was widely considered the second most powerful man in the Iran behind Supreme Leader Khamenei. The US saw him as a terrorist.

In other developments:

The US has reportedly denied a visa for Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif to visit the UN in New York later this week. Such a move would apparently breach an agreement guaranteeing foreign officials access to the UN headquarters

Germany is withdrawing a small number of soldiers stationed in Iraq as part of the coalition fighting Islamic State

The US denied it was pulling out of Iraq, after a letter from a US general suggested there would be a withdrawal

Iranian parliamentarians have approved a motion designating the US Army and the Pentagon as terrorist organisations, Iran's Tasnim news agency reports

In Kerman, south-eastern Iran, vast numbers of people were again seen in the streets with Soleimani's body due to be buried shortly.

"He was seen as a great man who was ready to serve his people... He must certainly be avenged," an 18-year-old student who was there told the AFP news agency.

On Monday, Ayatollah Khamenei led prayers at Soleimani's funeral in Tehran, at one point weeping over his coffin.

Unconfirmed estimates from Iranian state television put the number who took to the streets of Iran's capital alone as "millions". The crowds were large enough they could be seen in satellite images.

Who was Qasem Soleimani?

Soleimani was head of the Quds force, tasked with advancing Iran's Islamic revolution abroad. He was killed leaving Baghdad airport on Friday.

In his homeland, Soleimani was hailed as a national hero.

But he was also hardliner and a dominant force in a state that shot dead scores of protesters at the end of 2019.

Soleimani supported Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in the country's civil conflict, aided the Shia militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon, and guided Iraqi militia groups against the Islamic State group.

Justifying the strike President Trump said Soleimani was plotting "imminent" attacks on US diplomats and military personnel.

What has happened since his death?

Immediately after his death Iran threatened retaliation and officials have kept up the rhetoric. The leader of Iran's Revolutionary Guard on Tuesday threatened to "set ablaze" places supported by the US.

On Sunday, Iran declared it would no longer abide by any of the restrictions imposed by the 2015 nuclear deal. The deal limited Iranian nuclear capacities in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.

Following warnings from Iran, Mr Trump said that the US would respond in the event of retaliation for Soleimani's death, "perhaps in a disproportionate manner".

Trump administration officials though have contradicted the US president on his controversial threat to target Iranian cultural sites.

Such acts could be considered war crimes and Secretary of Defence Mark Esper said "we will follow the laws of armed conflict".

Six-Day War in World’s History

The Six-Day War was a brief but bloody conflict fought in June 1967 between Israel and the Arab states of Egypt, Syria and Jordan. Following years of diplomatic friction and skirmishes between Israel and its neighbors, Israel Defense Forces launched preemptive air strikes that crippled the air forces of Egypt and its allies. Israel then staged a successful ground offensive and seized the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip from Egypt, the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan, and the Golan Heights from Syria. The brief war ended with a U.N.-brokered ceasefire, but it significantly altered the map of the Mideast and gave rise to lingering geopolitical friction.

ARAB-ISRAELI CONFLICT

The Six-Day War came on the heels of several decades of political tension and military conflict between Israel and the Arab states.

In 1948, following disputes surrounding the founding of Israel, a coalition of Arab nations had launched a failed invasion of the nascent Jewish state as part of the First Arab-Israeli War.

A second major conflict known as the Suez Crisis erupted in 1956, when Israel, the United Kingdom and France staged a controversial attack on Egypt in response to Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser’s nationalization of the Suez Canal.

An era of relative calm prevailed in the Middle East during the late 1950s and early 1960s, but the political situation continued to rest on a knife edge. Arab leaders were aggrieved by their military losses and the hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees created by Israel’s victory in the 1948 war.

Many Israelis, meanwhile, continued to believe they faced an existential threat from Egypt and other Arab nations.

ORIGINS OF THE SIX-DAY WAR

A series of border disputes were the major spark for the Six-Day War. By the mid-1960s, Syrian-backed Palestinian guerillas had begun staging attacks across the Israeli border, provoking reprisal raids from the Israel Defense Forces.

In April 1967, the skirmishes worsened after Israel and Syria fought a ferocious air and artillery engagement in which six Syrian fighter jets were destroyed.

In the wake of the April air battle, the Soviet Union provided Egypt with intelligence that Israel was moving troops to its northern border with Syria in preparation for a full-scale invasion. The information was inaccurate, but it nevertheless stirred Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser into action.

In a show of support for his Syrian allies, he ordered Egyptian forces to advance into the Sinai Peninsula, where they expelled a United Nations peacekeeping force that had been guarding the border with Israel for over a decade.

MIDEAST TENSIONS ESCALATE

In the days that followed, Nasser continued to rattle the saber: On May 22, he banned Israeli shipping from the Straits of Tiran, the sea passage connecting the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba. A week later, he sealed a defense pact with King Hussein of Jordan.

As the situation in the Middle East deteriorated, American President Lyndon B. Johnson cautioned both sides against firing the first shot and attempted to garner support for an international maritime operation to reopen the Straits of Tiran.

The plan never materialized, however, and by early June 1967, Israeli leaders had voted to counter the Arab military buildup by launching a preemptive strike.

SIX-DAY WAR ERUPTS

On June 5, 1967, the Israel Defense Forces initiated Operation Focus, a coordinated aerial attack on Egypt. That morning, some 200 aircraft took off from Israel and swooped west over the Mediterranean before converging on Egypt from the north.

After catching the Egyptians by surprise, they assaulted 18 different airfields and eliminated roughly 90 percent of the Egyptian air force as it sat on the ground. Israel then expanded the range of its attack and decimated the air forces of Jordan, Syria and Iraq.

By the end of the day on June 5, Israeli pilots had won full control of the skies over the Middle East.

Israel all but secured victory by establishing air superiority, but fierce fighting continued for several more days. The ground war in Egypt began on June 5. In concert with the air strikes, Israeli tanks and infantry stormed across the border and into the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip.

Egyptian forces put up a spirited resistance, but later fell into disarray after Field Marshal Abdel Hakim Amer ordered a general retreat. Over the next several days, Israeli forces pursued the routed Egyptians across the Sinai, inflicting severe casualties.

A second front in the Six-Day War opened on June 5, when Jordan – reacting to false reports of an Egyptian victory – began shelling Israeli positions in Jerusalem. Israel responded with a devastating counterattack on East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

On June 7, Israeli troops captured the Old City of Jerusalem and celebrated by praying at the Western Wall.

ISRAEL CELEBRATES VICTORY

The last phase of the fighting took place along Israel’s northeastern border with Syria. On June 9, following an intense aerial bombardment, Israeli tanks and infantry advanced on a heavily fortified region of Syria called the Golan Heights. They successfully captured the Golan the next day.

On June 10, 1967, a United Nations-brokered ceasefire took effect and the Six-Day War came to an abrupt end. It was later estimated that some 20,000 Arabs and 800 Israelis had died in just 132 hours of fighting.

The leaders of the Arab states were left shocked by the severity of their defeat. Egyptian President Nasser even resigned in disgrace, only to promptly return to office after Egyptian citizens showed their support with massive street demonstrations.

In Israel, the national mood was jubilant. In less than a week, the young nation had captured the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip from Egypt, the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan, and the Golan Heights from Syria.

LEGACY OF THE SIX-DAY WAR

The Six-Day War had momentous geopolitical consequences in the Middle East. Victory in the war led to a surge of national pride in Israel, which had tripled in size, but it also fanned the flames of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Still wounded by their defeat in the Six-Day War, Arab leaders met in Khartoum, Sudan, in August 1967, and signed a resolution that promised “no peace, no recognition and no negotiation” with Israel.

Led by Egypt and Syria, the Arab states later launched a fourth major conflict with Israel during 1973’s Yom Kippur War.

By claiming the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the state of Israel also absorbed over one million Palestinian Arabs. Several hundred thousand Palestinians later fled Israeli rule, worsening a refugee crisis that had begun during the First Arab-Israeli War in 1948 and laying the groundwork for ongoing political turmoil and violence.

Since 1967, the lands Israel seized in the Six-Day War have been at the center of efforts to end the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Israel returned the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt in 1982 as part of a peace treaty and then withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005, but it has continued to occupy and settle other territory claimed in the Six-Day War, most notably the Golan Heights and the West Bank. The status of these territories continues to be a stumbling block in Arab-Israeli peace negotiations.

General Qassem Suleimani Bibliography (Iran's top commander)

General Qassem Suleimani, 62, was not only one of the most influential people in Iran but also in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq. Touted by many as the future president of Iran, Suleimani had survived over a dozen of assassination plots in the past against him

US President Donald Trump-authorised airstrikes at the international airport of the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Friday killed General Qassem Suleimani, the head of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' (IRGC's) Quds Force, and top Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, along with four other top commanders. His death has heightened tensions between the two countries. While the US said it would continue to take such actions to protect its interests, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed "severe revenge". Iran warned that the US would pay a heavy price of this "extremely dangerous and foolish escalation".

General Qassem Suleimani, 62, was not only one of the most influential people in Iran but also in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq. Touted by many as the future president of Iran, Suleimani had survived over a dozen of assassination plots in the past against him.

He was responsible for carrying out operations beyond Iran and was a major adversary of the United States and Israel and Saudi Arabia.

At a time when the US was up against the Bashar Al-Assad regime in Syria, he gathered support for the controversial president. He also helped armed groups defeat ISIS in Iraq.

Also read: Oil price rises over 4% after US air strike kills top Iranian military commander

Suleimani took command of the Quds Forces around 21 years ago with an aim to make Iran a supreme power in the Middle East. Reports say he had immense success in achieving that goal. From the rise of the most powerful armed force in Lebanon and Assad's success in fighting a civil war to Yemeni Houthi militias' resistance against Saudi Arabian-led forces - all can be traced back to Suleimani.

He was known as a powerful as well as a controversial figure in the Middle East -- the one who was more important than the Iranian president for many, thanks to his reach to all factions in Iran.

As per his biography, Suleimani was born in the Iranian city of Rabor. Born in a poor farming family, he had to move to the neighbouring city at the age of 13 to repay his father's debt. In 1979, Suleimani joined the Revolutionary Guards, a branch of the Iranian Armed Forces, founded after the Iranian Revolution on April 22, 1979. While the Iranian Army defends Iranian borders, the Revolutionary Guards protects its political system, primarily prevents foreign interference and coups.

In less than a decade after joining IRGC, he was sent to fight Iran's war against the invading Iraqi army outside the border areas and was soon appointed the chief of the Irani brigade chosen for the mission.

After the Iraqi government fell in 2003, Suleimani was selected as the Quds Force chief.

Known as shadow commander for his indirect war against the US, he was on the US hit list for long because of his alleged role in deaths of thousands of civilians, including US citizens, in Iraq. Israel and Saudi Arabia were also allegedly working to eliminate Suleimani for his alleged attacks against diplomats and service members of these countries in various regions of the Middle East.

Also read: US President ordered 'killing' of Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani; Ayatollah Khamenei vows revenge

Soon after his death, the White House said on Friday that General Suleimani and his Quds Force were responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American and coalition service members and the wounding of thousands more.

"He had orchestrated attacks on coalition bases in Iraq over the last several months - including the attack on December 27th - culminating in the death and wounding of additional American and Iraqi personnel. General Suleimani also approved the attacks on the US Embassy in Baghdad that took place this week," the statement said.

Over a year back, Suleimani even warned US President Donald Trump of escalating war with Iran. Calling Trump a gambler, Suleimani said Iran was closer to the US in places it might not know. "You will start the war but we will end it," he had threatened.

Pixer’s Secrets for success

With 15 Academy Awards and an average worldwide gross of over $600 million per film, Pixar might just be the most successful creative enterprise ever—and one of the most profitable.  Out of the 14 features the firm has produced, all but one have made the list of top 50 highest grossing animated movies.

Yet in his memoir, Creativity Inc., Pixar founder Ed Catmull writes that “early on, all of our movies suck.”  The trick, he points out, is to go beyond the initial germ of an idea and undergo the time consuming and laborious work it takes to get something “from suck to not-suck.”

That takes more than talent, it takes a deeply collaborative process that has been honed over decades.  At the center of that process—and all creative processes, in fact—is productive feedback.  While at most places, feedback is often a fairly informal, freewheeling exercise, at Pixar, it is a highly disciplined affair.  And that, as it turns out, makes all the difference.

Every Idea Starts Out As An Ugly Baby

People tend to think that great works are born out of sublime inspiration. There may be some truth to that, but it’s only a small part of the story. Catmull calls Pixar’s initial ideas “ugly babies,” because they start out, “awkward and unformed, vulnerable and incomplete.”  Not everyone can see what those ugly babies can grow into.

The problem is that there is always a tendency to compare an early idea to a finished project.  What’s more, we tend to compare them to the best of the genre.  It’s much easier to remember a classic scene from Casablanca than an outtake from Ishtar.  So it’s crucial to see a new idea’s potential, as well as its shortcomings.

That’s very hard to do.  Everybody’s seen runaway hits like Toy Story and Finding Nemo, yet very few knew them when they were awkward, ugly babies.  That makes it tempting to want to kill new ideas in the cradle, but it’s important to protect them. Every great work was an ugly baby at some point.

“Originality is fragile,”  Catmull writes.  The world is often unkind to new talent, new creations.  The new needs friends.”  “Our job is to protect our babies from being judged too quickly.  Our job is to protect the new.”

Feedback Requires Candor, Trust And Empathy

While rushing to judgment can stop the creative process in its tracks, excessive positivity can be just as bad.  The only way an ugly baby idea can get better is through honest feedback.  You have to identify problems before you can solve them and the sooner that happens, the better.  Every creator has to face hard truths.

However, that requires trust.  An idea is never just an idea, but also a part of the person who puts it forward.  It’s easy for someone to walk in and say, “that doesn’t work,” or “I don’t like it,” but that produces nothing.  It only stops the creative process in its tracks. Feedback should never be personal or the expression of a mere opinion.

The best way to help someone else’s work is to treat it as if it was your own.  To invest yourself as much as if it was your ugly baby, rather than to merely sit in judgment of it. A creative project can only reach its true potential if everybody is working toward its success.

Unfortunately, relatively few people are in a position to do that effectively.

Keeping The Cooks Out Of The Kitchen

One of the key principles of creativity is that you want to take ideas from everywhere. Truly original ideas never come from any one place, but from synthesizing disparate domains and applying them to a new context.  However, while casting a wide net is great for generating ideas, it’s often fatal for developing them

When Catmull and John Lasseter took over the Disney’s animation studio, which by that time had fallen far from its former glory, the first thing they noticed was that its system for providing feedback was broken. Directors would receive three sets of notes, delivered as a mandatory checklist of things to be corrected, which often conflicted with each other.

At Pixar, there is a group called the “braintrust,” made up of a small group of the company’s top directors and producers that is charged with giving feedback to films in development.  Importantly, everyone on the braintrust is a filmmaker and is capable of putting themselves in a director's shoes.  (Disney Animation now has a similar group is called the Story Trust)

When I was a publishing CEO, I was often asked to give my feedback on work in development.  I rarely, if ever, did unless I was deeply involved in the project and had earned trust.  Even then, I took efforts to base my input on specific experience or expertise and made sure to be clear that my comments were suggestions, not dictates.

Not everyone’s opinion counts.

The Purpose Of Feedback Is To Move The Project Forward

One of the most interesting things that Catmull had to say was that, although he had met an extraordinary amount of creative geniuses—and I would assume he included Steve Jobs in that group—he had never met “a single one who could articulate what it was that they were striving for when they started.”

Not a single one.

Often, feedback sessions are seen as a chance for people to give their input.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  The purpose of creative feedback is to move the project forward.  Anything that does not fulfill that purpose—not matter who it comes from—has no place in a feedback session.

There are, of course, times when a project has to be killed outright. Not all ugly babies grow up to be beautiful.  Sometimes, an idea just doesn’t pan out.  Other times, a seemingly promising idea fails to improve. When that happens, the only option is to pull the plug, but that is an executive decision to be made outside of the creative process, not within it.

As long as a project is alive, everyone needs to be committed to its success.  Having an idea is never as important—nor as hard—as developing it.

John Lasseter life History and animation journey

John Lasseter, in full John Alan Lasseter, (born January 12, 1957, Hollywood, California, U.S.), American animator widely credited with engineering the success of Pixar Animation Studios through a synthesis of cutting-edge computer animation and classic storytelling. He is best known for his work on films such as Toy Story (1995), the first fully computer-animated feature, and its sequels (1999, 2010).

Lasseter—who was encouraged by his mother, an art teacher—won a drawing contest at the age of five. In high school, after reading about the making of Walt Disney Company’s animated film Sleeping Beauty (1938), he was inspired to pursue a career as an animator. He attended the California Institute of the Arts, which had just begun offering animation courses taught by veteran Disney artists. After graduation (1979) he took a job at Disney’s animation studio, where he worked on The Fox and the Hound (1981) and Mickey’s Christmas Carol (1983). His enthusiasm for nascent computer animation technology put Lasseter at odds with some of his superiors, however, and he was fired in 1983.

By the following year Lasseter had been hired to work in the computer graphics division of Lucasfilm Ltd., the film company owned by director George Lucas. His first assignment was to direct an animated short film, The Adventures of André and Wally B. (1984), which was one of the first movies to feature computer-generated characters. In 1986 the division was acquired by Apple Computer, Inc., cofounder Steve Jobs and became an independent company called Pixar that focused primarily on developing and selling animation software. Disney became its biggest client. Pixar also produced television commercials and short films, with Lasseter serving as director. Tin Toy (1988) earned Lasseter an Academy Award for best short animated film.

In 1991 Pixar began to produce movies for Disney. Lasseter directed the initial effort, Toy Story, which featured a throng of talking toys. It became the highest-grossing film of 1995 and earned him a second Academy Award, this time for special achievement. Lasseter went on to direct other successful Pixar films for Disney—namely, A Bug’s Life (1998), a comical adventure featuring animated insects, and Toy Story 2 (1999), a sequel featuring further adventures of the toys from the 1995 hit. He codirected Cars (2006), which followed an array of anthropomorphic vehicles. During that time Lasseter also produced such Pixar films as Monsters, Inc. (2001), about the clash between the monster and human worlds, and Finding Nemo (2003), about a clownfish’s oceanic search for his son.

Lasseter returned to the company that had fired him when Disney purchased Pixar in 2006. He was named chief creative officer of both Pixar’s and Disney’s animation operations, and in that capacity he produced numerous features, including Up (2009), an aerial picaresque featuring a senior citizen as its hero; the third installment in the Toy Story franchise (2010); and Inside Out (2015), which deals with the complicated emotions of a young girl. In addition, he codirected Cars 2 (2011).

In November 2017, amid allegations of sexual misconduct, Lasseter announced that he was taking a six-month leave of absence because of “missteps.” In June 2018, however, it was reported that he would be leaving Disney at the end of the year. In January 2019 Lasseter became head of Skydance Media’s animation division.

“Don’t take democracy for granted” American supreme court warns

Supreme court Chief Justice John Roberts has urged federal judges to promote public confidence in the judicial system, while warning that Americans have come to “take democracy for granted”.

In his annual report on the state of the judiciary, the George W Bush-appointee, who will preside over Donald Trump’s impeachment trial in the Senate, said civic education had “fallen by the wayside”.

“In our age,” he wrote, “when social media can instantly spread rumour and false information on a grand scale, the public’s need to understand our government, and the protections it provides, is ever more vital.”

Roberts did not mention Trump but his statement was widely interpreted as part of an ongoing effort to shield the judicial branch from executive harassment.

The president and the chief justice have clashed before. In November 2018, Roberts issued a striking rebuke over the president’s criticism of a judge who blocked an asylum order.

“We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges,” Roberts said.

Trump dismissed Roberts’ comments, and blamed the judges for “bedlam and chaos”.

Roberts, appointed by a Republican, is by any measure a conservative but he has emerged as something of a swing vote on a supreme court tilted right under Trump.

In his 2019 report, he said: “We should celebrate our strong and independent judiciary, a key source of national unity and stability.”

He also urged his colleagues on the bench to “reflect on our duty to judge without fear or favor, deciding each matter with humility, integrity and dispatch”, and said “we should each resolve to do our best to maintain the public’s trust that we are faithfully discharging our solemn obligation to equal justice under law”.

Roberts drew attention to efforts to give the public better access to judicial reasoning. Without mentioning him by name, he referred to the Merrick Garland, the judge denied a supreme court place by Senate Republicans in 2016. Garland, Roberts said, has spent two decades “quietly volunteering” at an elementary school.

“I am confident that many other federal judges, without fanfare or acclaim, are playing similar selfless roles throughout the country,” Roberts wrote.

The judiciary, he said, “has an important role to play in civic education, and I am pleased to report that the judges and staff of our federal courts are taking up the challenge”.

AKON in business with African natural resources

Born in the U.S. and raised in Senegal, Akon said he’s a businessman first and a musician second. He has taken his brand beyond his art and he’s taken it to Africa, according to an AlJazeera interview.

The “Smack That” singer owns a clothing line in New York City, a diamond mine in South Africa, and an African solar lighting company.

He was listed as the No. 1-selling artist in the world for ringtones by the Guinness Book of World Records. He is the first solo artist to hold both the No. 1 and No. 2 spots simultaneously on Billboard Hot 100 charts — twice.

The American rhythm and blues and hip hop recording artist, songwriter, and record producer was born in 1973 in St. Louis, Missouri, to Senegalese parents. He spent much of his childhood in Senegal without electricity, according to PSFK. His mother was a dancer, his father, a percussionist.

On the Ellen Degeneres Show and other interviews, he said that as a Muslim, he has never drunk alcohol or smoked. He spent three years in U.S. jails, he told AlJazeera, for “stealing cars and hustling.”

In 2011, Forbes ranked him fifth out of 40 Most Powerful Celebrities in Africa.

Artists often exclude the business side of their art, and they have other people run it for them, Akon said. Not him. “When I create musically, I figure out, ‘How can that music be maximized?'”

How does Akon answer people who ask if it’s all about making money?

“The stage that I’m at now I only want to get into business that’s going to help people,” he told AlJazeera. “I’m in a position where I’m gifted. I’m in a place where I’ve been offered opportunities where I can make a difference and change lives. So why not change lives and make money at the same time?

One of Akon’s Africa-focused ventures where he’s trying to change lives is Akon Lighting Africa. He claims the company has brought solar lighting to more than 1 million households in 14 African countries.

“We started with just creating solar energy for rural areas and homes, and now we’re doing solar streetlamps,” he said. “We’re putting solar in all the villages. And we’re actually creating a system where we are employing all the locals to be able to maintain it.”

When Akon first brought lighting to Africa, some people were suspicious, he told AlJazeera.

“Because they are like, ‘He is a music guy. What is he doing in energy?’ … But we came fully prepared with answers to every question, and we also came prepared to execute,” he said. “So we didn’t come into these countries with an idea. We put together a full team, full infrastructure. So from the moment we came in, we came in creating pilots. We didn’t even ask the country for any money. (We used) our own money in the beginning.”

Akon estimates that installing a pilot solar lighting program in each village cost $100,000 to $200,000.

Diamond mine

In a 2007 interview with TheIndependent, Akon said he got a chance to buy a diamond mine in 2006 and did so. “Diamonds are always going to be selling, people are always going to get married, black people will always want to shine and bling-bling,” he said in the interview. “I always felt like if you get to a point where you’ve got enough money to invest in something real, you gotta invest in anything that’s related to a natural resource because that’s gonna be here forever — so you might as well invest in something that’s gonna be here, rather than invest in something that’s gonna wear out. I know for a fact that these are going to be selling forever.”

American, African identity

Akon speaks with an American accent and identifies as an African raised in America, “but my mind is not American,” he told AlJazeera, “It’s clearly African. I went to school in America. All my early childhood, I was raised in Africa. Then I came to America, and we would go back to Africa every summer for vacation. And then when I graduated high school, there was the choice of going back to Africa or stay in the U.S. And the opportunities in the U.S. were so much greater.”